colombia
eklemetti | August 27, 2010Sorry about the lack of posts - I've been not only frantically prepping for class and my Eyja talk, but also I'm somewhat under the weather with an ill-timed sickness, so even though there is stuff to talk about, I haven't really had time/wherewithal to deal with it.
However, expect big things from Eruptions next week!
Drawing of a ship washed inland by the tsunami generated by the August 27, 1883 eruption of Krakatau.
I'll throw a few quick links:
The alert status at Galeras has been dropped back down to "orange" after the non-explosive eruption earlier this week. However, INGEOMINAS warns…
eklemetti | August 25, 2010Today was a doubleheader for volcanic eruptions in the news:
Today's explosive eruption from Mt. Etna. Image courtesy of the INGV.
As I briefly mentioned earlier, Galeras in Colombia had an "atypical" eruption - apparently meaning it was non-explosive - that has prompted evacuations and a change in the alert status to "Red" for the volcano. Various news sources don't have a lot of new information yet, but you can check on the report on the INGEOMINAS page (spanish) - and they have links to some of the Galeras news (audio, spanish) from their main page. Some of the latest reports from…
eklemetti | August 25, 2010An undated photo of the crater at Galeras.
I am literally out the door, so I will fill this article a little more after my prior academic obligations, but there are reports of an eruption at Galeras in Colombia overnight. 8,000 people living near the volcano have been evacuated as INGEOMINAS moved the alert status at the volcano to "Red". Not much out there on the details of the eruption beyond this intriguing statement:
Diego Gomez from the Pasto Observatory of Vulcanology and Seismology said that due to the atypical, non-explosive eruption, another eruption is imminent.
Galeras the most…
eklemetti | August 5, 2010A new Weekly Volcanic Activity Report from the Smithsonian and USGS Global Volcanism Program!
Highlights from this week's report include:
Things are getting a little noisy in Colombia. I mentioned a few weeks ago about a possible explosion at Nevado del Ruiz. Now we have reports of increased seismicity under nearby Cerro MachÃn and ash plumes from Nevado del Huila. After a few centuries of relative quiet, it looks like the volcanoes of the Colombian Andes are looking more lively.
Also in South America, a gas plume was spotted at Chile's Planchon-Peteroa. This is the second time this year that…
eklemetti | July 21, 2010Kilauea lavas on the move near Kalapana. Image taken July 17, courtesy of the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.
Some news over the last few days:
The lava flows from Kilauea are moving with a vengeance right now, damaging roads and heading for some structures. The lava flows near Kalapana have moved almost 200 meters since Sunday, closing within 100 yards of homes in the area. The lava is moving to the east along Highway 130 and 137 - and tourists are making it difficult to get around as they park to watch the lava - upwards of 2,000 people! A number of people (and dogs) have had to be evacuated…
eklemetti | June 23, 2010The latest news from the world of volcanoes, brought to us by the Global Volcanism Program, USGS and the Smithsonian Institution. They are also brought to us by Sally Kuhn Sennert - and if you have a question for her about her job at the GVP preparing the Weekly Volcanic Activity Report and all things volcanic (and hopefully it won't end like another recent volcanically-mitigated interview).
Some highlights (not including Gorely and Sakurajima):
Ioto (aka Iwojima) in the Volcano Islands of Japan produced an ash plume of unknown height. The volcano has frequent phreatic eruptions and abundant…
eklemetti | January 3, 2010A pile of news for the new week!
The glow of new lava flows from Nyamuragira in the Congo, taken from the Virunga Park Headquarters, January 2, 2010.
MayonPHIVOLCS may lower the alert status at Mayon to Level 2 after almost a week of lower seismicity and no ash explosions since December 29th. Schools that were being used as evacuation centers were also returned to teachers and students for the start of classes after the Christmas holiday. However, the Albay provincial government is now considering a plan to permanently move everyone who lives within the 6-km danger zone around Mayon, even if…
eklemetti | January 2, 2010Undated image of the crater at Galeras in Colombia.
UPDATE 1/3/09 Midnight: I'm bumping this up from the comments, but INGEOMINAS posted some stunning webcam video of the eruption as it happened. Wow is all I say. {Hat tip to Doug C. for the video}
A quick note tonight: Eruptions reader Chance Metz alerted me to an impressive eruption of Galeras in Colombia tonight. The VAAC warning issued for the eruption suggests a 40,000 foot / 12 km ash plume and the reports seem to back it up, with the Red Cross reporting "very high ash cloud". No injuries/fatalities have been reported, but Galeras is…
eklemetti | December 31, 2009Here it is, my attempt to recap a year's worth of volcanic events. By no means is this supposed to capture every event, but rather the highlight/lowlights and what most captivated me during 2009. I'll be announcing the winner of the 2009 Pliny for Volcanic Event of the Year tomorrow.
Waimangu Geothermal Valley in New Zealand, taken in January 2009 by Erik Klemetti.
January
The year started out with a trip to New Zealand (well, for me at least) and vistas of the Waimangu Valley, formed in the 1886 eruption of Tarawera on the North Island. We were also still thinking about the late 2008…
eklemetti | December 17, 2009Before it gets lost in the mists of time/finals, here is the weekly volcano report brought to us by the USGS and the Smithsonian Global Volcanism Program.
Highlights (not including Mayon, Soufriere Hills or Piton de La Fournaise):
Fuego in Guatemala produced ash plumes that reached 4.1-4.7 km / 13,500-15,400 ft along with avalanches of volcaniclastic debris.
Also in Guatemala, lava flows erupted from Pacaya, traveling hundreds of meters from the main vent area.
Manam in PNG produced an 3 km / 10,000 foot ash plume as part of its renewed activity this year.
The lava dome on Nevado del Huila in…
eklemetti | December 8, 2009Undated image of Cerro MachÃn in Colombia.
I just picked up on this story over on the Volcanism Blog, but I want to post it here too. MachÃn, in Colombia, has experienced a sharp increase in seismicity at the volcano - maintaining the Yellow status for the volcano. 54 earthquakes were recorded at the volcano over the weekend, prompting the INGEOMINAS to raise the alert status. The volcano had a swarm in 2008 that did not lead to any eruption - but remember, better to be safe than sorry. If MachÃn were to erupt, it would join Galeras and Huila as erupting volcanoes in Colombia.
Not much is…
eklemetti | November 23, 2009Back from Iowa, time for some volcano news. Look for the answers to your questions for Dr. Boris Behncke to get posted later this week.
(And thanks for all the comments and kind words in the Open Thread. I'll start thinking about how to implement a lot of these in the next few weeks).
Undated photo of Volcan Galeras in Colombia.
Galeras stopped traffic near Pasto, Colombia and prompted the evacuation of 1,000 people over the weekend when it erupted. The volcano apparently produced ash that covered towns near the volcano, including Pashto, and the highway connected that town with Pasto was…
eklemetti | November 1, 2009All the news to start the week:
Galeras with a grey ash-and-steam plume behind Pasto, Colombia.
Well, after my article on Friday about Colombian volcanoes, Galeras must have decided it was left out. The volcano has been placed back at alert level Orange/II (eruption in days to weeks). An increase in seismicity and sulfur dioxide emissions (in spanish) prompted INGEOMINAS to put Galeras back on higher alert, but now the country has two volcanoes (Galeras and Huila) that could be erupting in the near future.
Back in the Philippines, there is new evidence that Mayon has a new dome forming at the…
eklemetti | October 30, 2009There has been news over the last few days of a number of volcanoes in Colombia, so I thought I'd try to gather it up here:
The steaming summit of Nevado del Huila in Colombia
Nevado del Huila has been ramping up its ash emissions, potentially pointing towards new eruptions from the crater dome. The NASA Earth Observatory posted a new image of the grey ash plume from the volcano poking its way up through the clouds. This plume made it all the way to ~11 km / 36,000 feet, so it definitely isn't insignificant. This comes after an increase in seismicity (up to 1,000 earthquakes in the last week…
eklemetti | October 29, 2009The SI/USGS GVP site is back up and running - and they've posted a new weekly volcano activity report. Enjoy!
Highlights include:
Nevado del Huila in Colombia has been showing signs that a new eruption might be starting. Seismicity has increased and minor ash fall has been reported, leading to an increase in the alert level at the volcano to "orange" (high).
Ebeko in the Kuril Islands off Russia and Japan produced a ~8.8 km / 29,000 foot ash plume.
Thermal images of the crater at El Reventador in Ecuador show that hot material is filling in the dome complex - this followed ash-and-steam…
edyong | October 14, 2009In the 1990s, Colombia reintegrated five left-wing guerrilla groups back into mainstream society after decades of conflict. Education was a big priority - many of the guerrillas had spent their entire lives fighting and were more familiar with the grasp of a gun than a pencil. Reintegration offered them the chance to learn to read and write for the first time in their lives, but it also offered Manuel Carreiras a chance to study what happens in the human brain as we become literate.
Of course, millions of people - children - learn to read every year but this new skill arrives in the context…
eklemetti | October 9, 2009Somehow I missed a week of the SI/USGS Weekly Volcano Activity Reports and almost missed another. Here is this week's update!
Highlights (not including Chaiten, Soufriere Hills or Cleveland) include:
The alert level at Galeras in Colombia was raised to Red after an explosion on September 30 and returned to orange ... and then yellow ... after activity tapered.
Sakurajima in Japan produced 1.8-4.3 km / 6,000-14,000-tall ash-and-steam plumes, along with incandescent tephra that was thrown almost two kilometers from the vent.
Multiple steam-and-ash plumes reached 4.3 km / 14,000 feet at Langila…
grrlscientist | August 15, 2009tags: TEDTalks, laptops, future success, Nicholas Negroponte, streaming video
(TED follows Nicholas Negroponte to Colombia as he delivers laptops inside territory once controlled by guerrillas. His partner? Colombia's Defense Department, who see One Laptop per Child as an investment in the region. This project will have a bigger and more lasting effect on the damages created by poverty, destitution, crime and violence in the world than any other single thing I can think of -- how about you? [6:31]
TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference,…
eklemetti | August 5, 2009We've made it to Ohio! Tomorrow I'll hopefully be returning to regularly scheduled updates, but until then, enjoy this week's SI/USGS Weekly Volcano Report.
Highlights include:
KVERT mentions that seismicity has increased recently at both Kizimen and Kliuchevskoi on the Kamchatka Peninsula.
~4 km / ~13,500 foot steam-and-ash plumes spotted at Colima in Mexico.
Rumbling noises, incandescent ejecta and ~4.3 km / 14,000 foot ash plumes at Fuego in Guatemala. Explosions were increasing as the August began.
It was a busy week in Guatemala, as ash/gas plumes were spotted at Santiaguito and Pacaya…
eklemetti | July 30, 2009This is likely my last update until the end of next week sometime, so feel free to use it for any new volcano news you might see. Look for the Erebus Volcano Profile to be posted on Friday sometime, followed by the vote for the next Profile. Next time I post I'll be (back) in the eastern time zone!
With that, I leave you with the latest USGS/SI Weekly Volcano Report.
Highlights (not counting Shiveluch) include:
Small ash plumes were spotted several times from Batu Tara in Indonesia.
Explosions, ashfall and earthquakes were reported at Nevado del Huila in Colombia.
There were reports of…